ALPINE NOTES

As he himself said, he was always much more interested in ' why ' than in' how.' I never had the good fortune to climb with him. It was a pleasure, I hoped, in store, for he must have been an excellent companion in the hills with his clear head, purposefulness and unfailing good humour. I knew him as a man of many interests : music, science, botany, art, as well as the hills. He possessed to a remarkable degree the faculty of applying himself fully to anything he took up and making a success of it. He had, indeed, an avid enthusiasm for anything that appealed to his mind and spirit. It was a wide range which widened and deepened as experience grew, at the time of his death perhaps more rapidly than ever before. He was modest to the point of diffidence about the things that touched him deeply, so that few, if any, of his friends knew all the many sides of his nature ; much of him they learned about only after his death. It is deplorable that his tragic end came before he had been able to reach the full development of his powers. G. A. DUMMETT.

ALPINE NOTES Year of THE ALPINE CLUB OBITUARY : Election. Gouraud, General Henri, Hon. Member • 1939 Calvert, E. • • • • • • 1897 Nelson, W. • • • • • • 1912 Myers, Dr. C. S. • • • • • 1926

Bagwell, J. • • • • • • • 1926 Elrington, T. • • • • • • 1926 Hazard, I. P. • • • • • • 1933 Aitchison, P. M. • • • • • 1937 CoNGRATULATIONS. ·We congratulate our Honorary Member, M. Charles Gos, on the award of the Prix Annuel de la langue fran;aise by the Academie Fran9aise for the year 1946. This is the first occasion that the prize has been awarded to a Swiss writer, and to one whose subject is mountain literature.

ScHWEIZERISCHE STIFTUNG FUR ALPINE FoRSCHUNGEN. I had the honour of being the guest of this flourishing Society for the first three weeks of May. It is quite impossible for me to return adequate thanks for the overwhelming hospitality and kindness shown to me, not only by my hosts, but by every person I met or spoke to in Switzerland. Not the least pleasant feature was the feeling one has that this welcome was accorded, not to the individual, but to the,people of Great Britain as a whole. E. L. STRUTT. VOL. LV. NO. CCLXXIII 2F ALPINE NOTES

THE AusTRIA~ ALPINE CLUB. On June 18, 1946, the first General Meeting was held of the reconstituted O.A.K., under the presidency of Dr. C. Kirschbaum. This club' was originally formed in 1869 and in 1938 became a branch of the D.A.V. It has now regained its independent existence, and will, under the editorship of Dr. Paul Kaltenegger, again issue the Osterreichische Alpenzeitung. We give our best wishes for the future of this club, of which the membership is held in high honour in the mountain world by the successors of such great names as Friedmann, Kuffner, Kugy, Pfannl and many others.

GRIVEL OF CoURMAYEUR. The death is announced of this· famous smith, who collaborated with Eckenstein in forging the new type of , and was also well known for his craftsmanship in making and other more modern aids to mountain equipment. . •

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS ON MoNT BLANC. The Service du Cadastre of Upper Savoy have decided that the ownership of the higher portion· of the ridge descending towards St. Gervais be divided between the two communes of Chamonix· and St. Gervais, the V allot hut passing to St. Gervais and the adjacent rocks to Chamonix, while the Dome du Goute.r is equally divided.

HoNORARY MEMBERSHIPS. We welcome the elections of Dr. J. Monroe Thorington and of Mr. G. P. Baker, elected 1882, to Honorary Membership of the Alpine Club. In his answer accepting election Dr. Thorington writes: ' Nothing in this fleeting life could have pleased me more, but I regard it chiefly as evidence of the close bonds between English­ speaking mountaineers which we have cherished during war years and which may now find fuller expression in the activities of peace.'

MuTUAL .GREETINGS. In reply to a letter of greeting from our · President, the following answer has been received, dated June 6, 1946, from the President of the C.A.I. ' CARo SIGNORE, Lieto del cordiale saluto che, a nome del Club Alpino Inglese, avete indirizzato al Club Alpino Italiano, quale rap­ presentante degli 8o,ooo alpinisti d'Italia, invio a v9i ed ai Colleghi tutti dell' Alpine Club, un fervido augurio, con la speranza di potervi incontrare sulle ~~lpi, che costituiscono sempre l'ambiente piu bello pe~ una calda amicizia. Coi migliori saluti alpinistici. LUIGI MASINI.'

Two FilHRERBUCHER. We acknowledge with warm gratitude the gift to the Alpine Club of Josef Pollinger's Fiihrerbuch, by the kindness of Adolf Pollinger and his family ; also that of Roman Imboden, the gift of his family. ALPINE NOTES

SPELI~ING OF NAMES. Herr Carl Egger writes : ' It seems that my spelling of the names Franz Andenmatten and J. J. Benet has caused some trouble to English critics of my book Die Pioniere der Alpen, as men of such notable accuracy as Tyndall, Tuckett and Hawkins have put the name of Bennen on his gravestone. But they have also put an incorrect date for his birthday (November I I, 18I9) on it, while this is reported to be November 2, I824, by the entries in the ecclesiastical books. It was Paul Montandon who called my attention to a notice in La Cordee, where a competent member of the Valaisan S.A.C. discussed this question. Andenmatten, I have from the civil officer of Saas Almagel, J. Burgener, a friend of Franz who is still living and states that the name is written in this way in all the official books and also in the old chronicle of the valley of Saas.'

THE GIFT OF A PICTURE. Mr. T. H. Somervell has presented to the Alpine Club one of his pictures recently exhibited in our gallery. We record the warm thanks and appreciation of the Alpine Club. FORTHCOMING BooK. We welcome the early publication of our President's new book, In the Rain and the Sun (Hutchinson, Zis.). · • • }EAN ANzEVUI. Denizens of Arolla will be sorry to hear of the death in August 1945 of Jean Anzevui, at the age of 8o, for a great number of years proprietor and host of the Mont Collon hotel, of which he restored the fortunes, enlarging it in a way which has been continued with additional comfort by his son who has succeeded him. He was the friend of generations ·of climbers and guides, and, owning much o~ the land including the site of the English Church, which he helped to keep in repair, was determined to oppose any suggestion of the carriage road which, at some other places, has introduced a different type of visitor and destroyed the peace and charm which comparative inaccessi­ bility still preserves for a resort. • I may add that the well known Arolla guide, Joseph Georges le skieur, credited with many first ascents, has now retired to his home at La Forclaz. • G. M. BELL .

SECOND AscENT OF CHOMO YuMo. Thi~ was accomplished by · FJO. T. H. Tilly with the Sherpa porters Angtharkay and Sawa Thendup on July 25, I945· On the zznd they established a base at I7,700 ft., below the N .E. Chanicmo Glacier. Next day the glacier and steep rock and scree slope at its head were ascended and Camp I was placed on a rocky promontory at about 19,500 ft. On the 24th the N.E. ridge of Chomo Yumo was reached and followed, with one diversion on the snowy face to avoid a steep buttress, to the extreme topmost rock's, where Camp 2 was pitched on scree at about 2I,ooo ft. This camp weathered a severe squall with hail ~nd snow which lasted for an hour and a half during the evening. ALPINE NOTES On the 25th the party left camp at 8.I5 A.M. and ascended a long slope of snow, in cloud during the latter part, to the summit ridge, which was traversed to the W. over several subsidiary tops, each of which in turn appeared to be the summit in the wretched visibility prevailing, and much time was spent waiting for local clearances. However, the true summit wa~ eventually reached at I2.30 P.M. and left at I2.50 in very thick but quite warm weather. ' Camp 2 was regained by the route of as.cent at I .40 and a descent made to Camp I. The following morning base camp was reached. Chomo Yumo was first ascended by .Dr. A. M. Kellas on July I2, Igio, and the present ascent would appear to be the second. (From the I945 Report of the Himalayan Club.)

• THE WETTERHORN, N. FACE. Dr. Finzi writes: ' With regard to the extremely interesting account of Krahenbiihl's ascents of the Wetterhorn (Die Alpen, June I945 ; A.J. 55· 324), I have certain comments to make. First, Biner and I prospected it, and he led the whole climb to the summit, so it should really be described as the Biner-Knubel-Finzi climb, the order in which we were roped~ His designation of our route is not accurate, as we went to the foot of the great towers before the traverse, and I do not think a traverse is possible along his line. These great towers are very well shown in the picture of the other ascent of the N. wall of the W etterhorn itself. His sketch is also inaccurate in placing the vertical s·ection too far to the right. It was by means of the little patches of snow that I worked • out the route. When one gets above the vertical section many routes are possible, and I am certain that our route was quite free from danger in dry weather. ·As to the slabs of the lower section, they would, of course, be much easier with frozen snow, but the possibility of the snow's melting and cutting off both one's advance and retreat makes ·it very hazardous to attempt under these conditions. The first time that we were on it, before I had had the photographs of it with new snow, we intended to go off to the right to prospect, but were driven down by the advent of bad weather and only just got off in time. It is interesting that Nettleton tried that way thirty years befo~e piton was inserted at one point for security reasons; it was, of course, removed. The route would seem to be free from objective danger. The times are slow, as the party was out of training. The heights are taken from the Carte Nationale Suisse.

• 430 REVIEWS THE Cun CouNTRY. The following letter has been received from a correspondent at Rumbelbellipore, C.P. : 'The ALPINE JouRNAL speaks with the authority of age and experi­ ence, and its word on anything connected with is usually accepted as Holy Writ, even in Scottish mountaineering circles. This hard won reputation for infallibility prompts me to draw the attention of the Editor to a curious lapse in the May number. How far the Editor is responsible for the blunders of his contributors is not for me to say ,; no doubt, in questions of grammar or taste he has the last word, but in questions of fact his critical faculties are liable to be lulled to sleep by the repute of the contributor. In A.J. 55· 236 Mr. Smythe writes : " A new word was coined for the Bens and Braes ; they became the ' Cuds,' a good Lancashire · ·word, I understand." May I say that th~ word in question is neither Lancashire nor good, and altho~gh ignorance of Lancashire dialect, while it may be deplored, is not to be censured, it is another matter to give such random unchecked statements the stamp of truth by printing_them in the JouRNAL. There was no need for Mr. Smythe to consult his Lancashire friends, of whom th~ writer is one, or any of the books on Lancashire dialect, of which there are many. The word so dear to his suffering pupils was really" Khud," a ·word current in the hills of India meaning• a hillside or steep slope, imported into the Army's vocabulary and widely used there. One has to be no great conjurer to discover this, ·no great student of Himalayan literature, no philologist, crossword expert or Oriental savant. · No, there is no excuse for this oversight. When this paragraph was penned and subsequently printed, ·the King of the Cuds was careless and you; Sir, were asleep.' Guilty, m'lud ! I chewed the cud. On ben and brae and bonny hill The Editor must frank the bill.

GIFT. Dr. J. Monroe Thorington of Philadelphia (Hon. Member of the A.C.) has presented to the A.C. Library the MS. of Mrs. Mark Beaufoy's diary of her journey in the Oberland in 1787, the text of which appeared in A.J. 40. 261 sqq. For this most interesting and generous gift, we desire to express to the donor our most cordial thanks.

REVIEWS • The Delectable Mountains: By Douglas Busk. Pp. 288, with 36 pp. of illustra- tions and 4 maps. Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., London, 1946; Price 2IS; EvERY mountaineering book is in some measure an autobiography, showing the writer mirrored in the manner of his climbing, his choice of companion and his written or unwritten comments, and those books